Hand fin for swimming



March 3, 1964 w. A. GLASS, JR

HAND FIN FOR SWIMMING Filed Sept. 28, 1961 INVENTOR. Glass, Jr.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,122,766 HAND BEN FUR SWHVTNHNG William A. Glass, 35in, 2462 Hunting Valley Drive, Decatur, Ga. Filed Sept. 28, 61, Ser. No. 141,459 2 (Ilaims. (G. 9-3fi8) This invention relates to a swimming device and is more particularly concerned with a hand fin for swimming, the

being adapted to be received on the hand of a swimmer to aid the swimmer in propelling himself in the water.

in the past, many devices have been devised for fitting onto the hands and feet of swimmers to increase the ei'ficiency and speed of the swimmer. Foot swimming fins, for example, have come into widespread use and are particularly suited for use by skin divers. To a lesser degree, gloves and paddles for the hands have been used; however, such gloves and paddles have usually been difiicult to install on the hand and diillcult to remove therefrom, usually requiring the aid of another person to effect such an installation. When such prior art devices have been installed on a swimmers hands, these devices tend to immobilize the hands and particularly the fingers of the hands such that when the devices have been used for a period of time, the hands become numb or cramped due to the retarding of circulation or" the blood in the hands and due to the inaction of the various elements of the hands.

Some prior art devices which are wholly rigid and are strapped in place on the hands by straps and buckles, which serve to clamp each hand to its device and thereby render the hands immobile that the safety of the swimmer using such devices is impaired since the swimmer cannot grasp or hold onto objects while the devices are installed and cannot readily remove the devices without the aid of a second party.

Further, some or the prior art devices, while being less ditlicult to remove from the wearer, nevertheless, render the hands useless for performing tasks other than swimming. Such devices are undesirable to most divers since they prevent the use of the hands in holding onto obiects. Still other devices must be held at all times by the fingers and have cuplihe areas which collect water when submerged and retain the water as the swimmer attempts to move the hand. Thus, too much drag is involved in using such devices.

it is therefore seen that a long felt want has developed for a practical, cihcient, easily removable swimming glove which will permit the fingers and other portions of the hand to be manipulated with the glove installed and will not create an excessive drag on the swimmer.

(Jontrary to prior art practices, I have devised a swimming glove which overcomes the difilculties inherent in s; liming gloves of the prior art. Briefly, my swimming glove includes a relatively inflexible web-like body or plate integrally connected to a cover, thereby defining cavities which will readily and easily receive a persons hand and when installed permits the hand to be flexed and the fingers to be manipulated and fiexed laterally within the relatively rec confines of the cavities. Slots are also provided in the plate whereby the fingers of the person readily and easily may be shifted from within the glove to a position protruding through the slots. The glove is sufiiciently inflexible or rigid, however, that the hand may be inserted with ease within the hand receiving cavity while the glove is held between the legs or knees of a person and yet is sufiiciently flexible that the hand is not immobilized when the glove is on. The construc tion and arrangement of the glove is such that it is essen- 3,122,753 Patented Mar. 3, 1964 ice tially streamlined and does not add appreciable drag to the wearer.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a swimming device which is easily installed on the hands of a person without the assistance of a second party.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a swimming device which, when installed on the hand, will permit limited movement of the fingers of the hand.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wimming device which when installed on the hand will still permit limited utilization of the fingers of the hand.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a swimming device which is adapted to be installed on the hand of a swimmer and when used, does not cause excessive drag on the swimmer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a swimming device which is easy to manufacture, durable in structure and efficient in operation.

C ther obiects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FlG. l is a side elevational view of a swimmer in water utilizing a pair of the swimming devices of the present invention.

PEG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational View of the back side of a swimming device constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FlG. 3 is a cross-sectional View taken along line 3-3 in PEG. 2.

PEG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 44 FIG. 5 is a side elevational view on a reduced scale, of the lront of the swimming device shown in FIG. 2, the device being modified to provide openin s for the fingers and thumb of a persons hand.

Referring now in detail to the embodiment chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention, it being understood that in its broader as acts, the present invention is not limited to the exact details herein depicted, numeral M denotes a swimmer in water 11, such as a like or swimming pool. The swimmer it) is illustrated as utilizing a pair of complementary swimming devices 15 constructed in accordance with the present invention and installed respecti ely on his hands. The right hand swimming device 15 is seen better in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that the swimming device 15' is in the form of a glove which provides web of reater area than the hand parallel to and in front of the front surface of the hand. The purpose of the web is to provide the swirnrner it with a paddle-like surface by which to propel himself in the water 11. In more detail, the swimming device '15 is an integral member formed of resilient flexible material such as natural or synthetic rubber, or a plasticized plastic material or the like. I prefer to employ natural rubher as a material of construction since it has the proper flexibility for my purposes.

The swimming device or glove 15 includes two major components, namely, a mitt portion and a web portion. The web portion includes a flat polygonic plate 16 which conforms generally to the shape and side of a persons hand. The plate 16 is of sufiicient thickness to be relatively inflexible and has a fiat outer surface 17 and a number of straight side edges 18, 19, 2t 21 and 22 connected by their abutting ends so as to define somewhat the overall shape of a hand.

As viewed in FlG. 2, the side edge 18 extends in a radial irection, upwardly and outwardly, from an arcuate outwardly concaved base edge 23, edge 18 extending at an angle of about 30 from the vertical centerline C of plate 18 to intersect one end of side edge 19. Preferably, the intersection or first apex of edges 13 and 19 is rounded such that the arcuate portion 24 formed thereby merges with the end portions of edges 18 and 19, the edges 18 and 19 being essentially tangential to arcuate portion 24. The length of side 18 is approximately the length of a persons thumb from the wrist. The obtuse angle 06 subtended between edges 18 and 19 is approximately 105 whereby the edge 13 extends upwardly and inwardly by a distance slightly greater than the distance between the ends of the forefinger and thumb, when the thumb is extended.

The end of side edge 19 and outer edge 26 intersect at an obtuse angle ,8 of approximately 165. Thus, the outer edge 26 extends upwardly and inwardly to the centerline C of the plate 16, the edge 29 intersecting the centerline at about 60.

At the centerline C, outer edge 20 also intersects outer edge 21, the edges 20 and 21 forming a peaked outer end or second apex for plate 16 with edges 20 and 21 diverging downwardly from their intersection. An obtuse angle 7 of about 125 is subtended between outer edges 20 and 21. Edge 21, however, is slightly longer than edge 20 and it, in turn, intersects side edge 22 at an obtuse angle 6 of about 110".

Side edge 22 extends downwardly and inwardly, merging with an arcuate lower corner portion 25 which curves slightly inwardly and radially intersects the arcuate base edge 23.

As seen in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, from the straight edges 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, the glove tapers rearwardly beyond the inner surface 26 of plate 16 to define a pair of spaced opposedsides or side members 27 and 23 joined at their upper edge portions by an end or end member 29. The sides 27, 28 and end 29 support a relatively thin flexible back cover 30 whereby a relatively large, hand receiving pocket or cavity 31 is defined. Within the side 28, which incidentally is substantially wider than the side 27, is a thumb receiving pocket, cavity or recess 32 which extends inwardly and downwardly from a point inwardly ad jacent arcuate portion or first apex 24, the cavity 32 extending somewhat parallel to edge 18 and communicating with and converging with the larger cavity 31.

The smaller cavity '32 is slightly larger than and generally conforms to the shape of a persons diverging thumb while the larger cavity 31 is of a width and length greater than the width and length of a persons hand to provide ample room to permit lateral movement of the persons fingers when the glove is installed. The cover 30, however, fits snugly against the back surface of the hand so that the paddle-like glove 15 will not shift appreciably on the hand.

Inwardly of the base edge 23, and extending outwardly and downwardly across the base edge 23 is the neck of the glove which is adapted to fit snugly around the wrist of the swimmer 10. The neck is formed by a downwardly extending portion ofcover 30 which tapers inwardly as at numeral 33 to form'an annular waist above or inwardly of the open end 34 of the neck. The material from cover ,30 forming the waist 33 extends around the open end 34, and provides a bottom cover 35 which is connected integrally with the inner surface face 26 of plate 16, ad-

jacent but inwardly of the base edge 23. The opening formed at end 34 therefore communicates with the large cavity 31, as seen in FIG. 2. The waist 33 formed by the continuous sheet of rubber is approximately or slightly smaller than the wrist of a person, however, itis sufficient- 1y resilient that the hand of a person may be readily and .easily urged through the waist 33 and into the cavity 31, the thumb of the person extending into cavity 32.

As seen best in FIG. 4, the overall shape of the glove or swimming device 15 is essentially streamlined, having a hat front surface formed by the outer surface 17 of plate 16, while having smoothly curved rear surface 36 for sides 27, 28 and 29, surface 36 being convex and merging with the outer surface of cover 39.

In the modified form of the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a central transverse slot 40 is provided in plate 16, the slot 41 being sufiiciently wide that the fingers 41 of a swimmer 10 may protrude through the slot '40 and curl around the outer surface 17 of plate 16. In this embodiment, a slot 43 may also be provided in plate 16,

through which the thumb 44 may protrude whereby the swimmer It may grip plate 16 between his thumb 43 and fingers 41.

From the foregoing description, the operation of the present device is apparent. One of the gloves 15 is installed by holding it in one hand and inserting the other hand through opening 34. The other glove 15 is installed by holding the glove under one arm or between the legs or knees and then inserting the other hmd therein.

The paddles thus provided by gloves 15 are operated essentially as the hands would be operated in swimming and hence little variation in ones swimming stroke is required. It is, however, significant that in utilizing the gloves 15, submerged, each glove 15 may be feathered for bringing the glove forward.

Because of the shape of the glove 15, the arcuate portion 24 is in the forwardmost position when the glove is feathered and hence the diverging side edges 18 and 19 V tend to cut the water without appreciable resistance.

The glove 15 is also particularly useful in the butterfly stroke in that the hands and arms of the person are brought forward simultaneously, skimming across the water, during a portion of the cycle and hence the gloves 15 may be guided by the hands so as to skim the water and provide additional lift. In this stroke, after the gloves 15 have been brought forward, the gloves 15 may be readily made to penetrate into the water by tilting the thumbs downwardly whereby the arcuate portion 24 penetrates first.

The flexible cover 30 and the size of cavity 31 permit the hands to be exercised periodically so that the hands will ordinarily not become cramped or numb with extended use of the glove.

When the overhand stroke is employed, the peaked outer end is usually inserted first. edges 20 and 21 tend to cut the water as the gloves 15 enter the water.

The tight fiting waist 33 of the glove 15 prevents the ready ingress and egress of water to and from the glove and hence no significant energy is lost by pumping action of the hands. Further, no appreciable water is retained within the glove 15 as added weight to be lifted with each stroke.

The overall shape of the glove 15 is essentially balanced for the hand and therefore no excess strain on the wrist is involved in utilizing the glove 15. Further, the general airfoil shape of the glove 15 reduces the drag during periods when the glove 15 is brought forward.

The concaved base edge 23, when the glove 15 is installed, is well forward of the wrist and hence does not interfere with the normal flexing of this joint. The shape of base edge 23, however, permits a substantial surface area adjacent the Wrist so that this area may be utilized without applying a great bending movement to the wrist.

With reference to FIG. 5, the slots 40 and 43'are so arranged in combination with the flexible resilient cover 30 that the fingers 41 and thumb 44 may be inserted through the slots 40 and 43 and retracted therefrom without removing the glove 15.

The gloves 15, however, may be readily and quickly removed by simply inserting the gloves 15 under the arms so as to apply a clamping force by the arms and then pulling the hands outwardly.

The resilient material from which the integral glove 15 of the present invention is constructed permits a relatively inflexible paddle-like plate 16 with relatively inflexible Thus, the diverging 53 sides 22, 28 and end 29 to be provided which tend to protect the hands of the swimmer 10 while the flexible cover 30 and waist 33 permit manipulation of the hand within the glove 15. Further, the relatively inflexible plate 16 is well suited to act as a paddle for its intended purpose.

t will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A swimming device comprising an integral glove formed of resilient flexible material, said glove including a flat relatively rigid paddle-like polygonic plate, opposed side members extending from the back surface of said plate, and an end member join ng said side members and said plate at the end of said plate, a flexible cover joined by its edge portions to said side members and end memher, said plate and said cover defining between said side members, a hand receiving cavity, and a waist portion connected to said cover and said plate and communicating with said cavity, said side members and said end member and said plate and said cover being so dimensioned that said cavity is adapted to receive a hand of a swimmer, the edges of said plate forming an apex on the thumb side of said glove and a second apex outwardly of the end of said cavity, the edge of said plate adjacent said waist portion being concaved so as not to interfere with the flexing of the swimmers wrist, said side members and said end member being provided with an arcuate surface extending rearwardly from said plate and inwardly toward the central portion of said cover, said surfaces merging with the outer surface of said cover.

2. A swimming device comprising an integral glove formed of resilient flexible material, said glove including a flat relatively rigid paddle-like polygonic plate, opposed side members extending from opposite side portions of the back suriace of said plate, an end member joining said side members and said plate at the end of said plate, a flexible cover carried by said side members and end member, said plate and said cover defining between said side members a pair of cavities communicating with each other, one of said cavities being a relatively large cavity and the other of said cavities being a relatively small cavity, and a waist portion connected to said cover and said plate inwardly of a base edge of said plate and defining an open end communicating with the larger of said cavities, the base edge of said plate adjacent said waist portion being concaved so as not to interfere with the flexing of the swimmers wrist, said side members and said end member and said plate and said cover being so dimensioned that said large cavity is adapted to receive a hand of a swimmer with his thumb extending into and received within said small cavity and his wrist extending through said open end, the edges of said plate forming an apex adjacent the end of said small cavity and a second apex outwardly of the end of said large cavity, said side members and said end member being provided with arcuate surfaces extending rearwardly from said plate and inwardly toward the central portion of said cover, said arcuate surfaces merging with the outer surface of said cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 183,045 Dunlop Oct. 10, 1876 689,840 Jensen Dec. 24, 1901 1,275,005 Eckman Aug. 6, 1918 1,395,914 Grundmann Nov. 1, 1921 1,588,635 Webb June 15, 1926 2,211,536 Clayton Aug. 13, 1940 2,556,894 Axiotes June 12, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 946,530 France Dec. 20, 1948 

1. A SWIMMING DEVICE COMPRISING AN INTEGRAL GLOVE FORMED OF RESILIENT FLEXIBLE MATERIAL, SAID GLOVE INCLUDING A FLAT RELATIVELY RIGID PADDLE-LIKE POLYGONIC PLATE, OPPOSED SIDE MEMBERS EXTENDING FROM THE BACK SURFACE OF SAID PLATE, AND AN END MEMBER JOINING SAID SIDE MEMBERS AND SAID PLATE AT THE END OF SAID PLATE, A FLEXIBLE COVER JOINED BY ITS EDGE PORTIONS TO SAID SIDE MEMBERS AND END MEMBER, SAID PLATE AND SAID COVER DEFINING BETWEEN SAID SIDE MEMBERS, A HAND RECEIVING CAVITY, AND A WAIST PORTION CONNECTED TO SAID COVER AND SAID PLATE AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CAVITY, SAID SIDE MEMBERS AND SAID END MEMBER AND SAID PLATE AND SAID COVER BEING SO DIMENSIONED THAT SAID CAVITY IS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A HAND OF A SWIMMER, THE EDGES OF SAID PLATE FORMING AN APEX ON THE THUMB SIDE OF SAID GLOVE AND A SECOND APEX OUTWARDLY OF THE END OF SAID CAVITY, THE EDGE OF SAID PLATE ADJACENT SAID WAIST PORTION BEING CONCAVED SO AS NOT TO INTERFERE WITH THE FLEXING OF THE SWIMMER''S WRIST, SAID SIDE MEMBERS AND SAID END MEMBER BEING PROVIDED WITH AN ARCUATE SURFACE EXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM SAID PLATE AND INWARDLY TOWARD THE CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID COVER, SAID SURFACES MERGING WITH THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID COVER. 